The Kiss

It happened suddenly. Whether it was done by pure instinct or reckless thinking, he didn't know, but one thing was certain: this was definitely something he'd never forget. The results of his action could be disastrous. The situation leading up to the event was ordinary, as far as ordinary goes for two kids who saved the world multiple times. The two had decided to meet up to work on their senior project, a task that proved to be rather unproductive as they seemed to end up doing everything but that. It was a typical scenario that could have played out with a stereotypical outcome, much like a movie: a boy and a girl in a room, attempting to do some homework together but end up having too much fun, having one thing lead to another. Only, this didn't quite happen. Of course nothing ever goes my way, he thought.

Tai and Sora were about to learn a lesson: with great procrastination, comes great … disasters.

From building castles out of Twinkies (something he would miss dearly once he'd run out of his last two boxes) to searching up cute puppy videos on YouTube – they did it all. By the end of their little mishaps, the two decided to create a fort out of bed sheets and pillows in his room – the ultimate time-killer and homework-avoider. They began from the outside, gathering up every pillow around the house and stacking them on top of each other around his bed. Then, they took the bed sheets and tied them to one another, hanging them on top of his bookshelf and lamps until his single-sized bed could not be seen from the outside.

It didn't occur to the two that single-sized beds weren't meant for more than one person.

And so the two ended up next to each other, with no way out of their fortress unless they decided to knock down their hard work (which meant they'd actually have to do some homework, so they decided against it). Instead, they talked. This was the part that could have played out like a movie, too – a boy and a girl laying down next to each other as close as they could (in this case, only because his bed was so small), and one of them confesses and, again, one thing leads to another.

Only, that didn't happen either.

Tai was beginning to realize that life doesn't quite play out like the movies do.

The conversation consisted of little snippets of their lives – memories of a carefree time, the wonders of childhood, and growing up. Eventually, Sora brought up something she had never spoken of before – her relationship with Matt. It was always an awkward subject – the two were best friends, but never shared details about their relationships. Tai had always wanted to ask her about it, but it never felt right – especially after the two broke up.

"Did you love him?" he asked. He concentrated on staring at the sheet-ceiling before him. The idea of making eye contact when asking this question made him uneasy.

She paused before answering, as if she were carefully choosing her words. "To be honest… I'm not sure, looking back now. We were together for a long time, I know, but I think if I was – you know, in love with him – I would have said yes to that question right away." He turned to look at her, and in exchange she gave him a sad smile. "Promise you won't tell Matt?"

He nodded, flashing a grin. "Of course I won't tell him. Now spill out more secrets of yours so I can use them as blackmail later."

Sora laughed, raising her eyebrows. "Geez, Tai. Why are you so curious?"

"Woah, woah. I'm not curious. We never talk about these things! Actually, guys never talk about these things. I know you girls talk about boys all the time."

"So you want to talk about boys?"

Tai brought his palm to his face, sighing in frustration as Sora began to giggle. When she stopped, she asked, "Okay. What is it exactly that you want to know?"

He scratched his head, thinking of the endless amount of questions he could possibly ask - not that any of her answers mattered to him (or so he was trying to convince himself). "Gee, I don't know. What is it that you girls talk about? Uh, first date… first fight… first fairy-tale smooch on the lips -"

At this, Sora burst out in laughter, making Tai all the more curious (even though he was otherwise trying to convince himself it wasn't curiosity), which was becoming quite frustrating for him.

He asked cautiously, "…What?"

She tried to suppress her giggles, to a slight avail. Finally, she said seriously, "It was probably the exact opposite of a fairy-tale. Our first wasn't that great." She looked up at him and immediately picked up on his look of confusion. "He'll pretend like it didn't happen if you ever ask, but our first was a bit of a disaster."

"Do tell."

Sora brushed a few of her orange locks to the side, once again carefully picking out her words. "It was … I mean, it wasn't terrible - I've heard worse stories, but it wasn't, you know, like the one. He did it out of nowhere at the wrong situation. I mean, it's not like I wanted it to be perfect, and it's not like I had the highest expectations, but it wasn't… it wasn't special."

Her voice lowered when she said the word "special." He sat up, and she followed his lead – the two were now sitting cross-legged facing each other under their makeshift fortress. They could hear the pitter-patter of the rain outside, and the distant roars of thunder echoing across the city. "What happened?" he asked, admitting defeat and giving in to his ever-growing curiosity. She furrowed her eyebrows, clearly replaying the scenario in her head.

"We were hanging out after his band practice. Just the two of us – but it was obvious that he was having a bad day, and … maybe a little too much to drink." She laughed sheepishly.

"Oh, geez. Matt doesn't resort to drinking unless he's real –"

"Mad. Yeah."

Tai leaned forward towards her, with concern clear in his eyes. "He didn't do anything bad –"

"No, no – it's not like that. Nothing bad like that happened at all. It just happened right before I dropped him off at home. I walked him to his doorstep and just as I was about to leave, he grabbed me and turned me around, and then he did it – and after that he said—"

"Something sweet and romantic, hopefully?"

"No. He slurred out, 'I want to be an astronaut.' Then he threw up on my shoes."

Moments of silence, and then bursts of obnoxious laughter. Sora rightfully gave Tai a light punch on the shoulder as he began to shake from trying to stifle his laughs. His stomach was sore from the uncontrollable guffaws, but when he finally stopped he said sincerely, "Okay, I'm sorry. That just… that just really sucks, especially since that was your first ever."

She smirked. "Yeah, not the best first, but it's funny now that I look back on it. It's like I said… I didn't want it to be perfect, but it would have been nice if he was at least sober – you know, being able to actually remember what happened the next day. I just wanted my first to be memorable, but not memorable like that." She stared off to the side, as if fighting back from saying something until at last she said, "It wasn't the one."

When she looked up, she flinched a little because Tai's face was so close to hers, something he didn't realize until he saw her reaction. He backed away sheepishly, flashing her an awkward smile and he suggested, "How about we start on that homework?"

Sora sighed, finally having to face the reality of being a student. "Story time was fun," she said, giving Tai a nudge on his hips with her elbow. "Are you ready to knock down our – OOF!"

Her face immediately made contact with a pillow flying towards her, almost knocking her backwards not by impact but by complete surprise. She straightened up quickly, grabbing the pillow from her lap and, with the intent of having revenge, she began whacking Tai in return with it, causing him to laugh as he fell down sideways off his bed. Luckily, the bed was surrounded by a wall of pillows, but his landing caused his body to tug off the bed sheets, sending them flying towards the two, completely destroying their fort. Sora jumped off the bed, continuing to pummel Tai until he grabbed the pillow from her, about to give her the final blow. He began to narrow in on his attack – she was giggling too uncontrollably to move – until his feet tripped over the stack of pillows on the floor, sending him flying towards Sora, and the two landed on top of the pillow sea, with his body practically on top of hers.

Neither of them noticed the proximity – the Woah-I'm-On-Top-Of-You kind of closeness – until they stopped laughing. Faces only inches apart – heavy breathing and sore stomachs from the right reasons. Their hearts beat fast, matching the rhythm of the now heavy rain falling outside. She gave him a small smile, and neither of them blinked for a second as they stared at each other.

And that's when he did it.

He pressed his lips against hers, caught off-guard by how soft hers were, and how sweet it tasted.

This happened too suddenly. I acted on impulse – complete reckless thinking! At least this is something I won't forget… and at least I'm sober, he thought. This. Is. Disastrous.

Yet, he couldn't bear to think of parting his lips from hers, something he had imagined doing before but never actually being able to do. After all, she dated his best friend – she chose Matt instead of him. The thought made him uncomfortable, and so he withdrew his lips apart from hers, keeping his eyes closed for a few lingering seconds – taking in as much of what just happened before all hell was about to break loose – until he forced himself to open his eyes and face the consequences of what had just happened.

Neither of them said anything for what seemed like an eternity. All they could hear were the thunder showers outside, filling in the deathly silence. He slowly moved off from her, cautiously choosing his next few actions, and waited desperately for her to break the ice first, but her expression was so blank, he was afraid he had ruined their friendship. Gulping, he sat up next to her (all the while having convinced himself, Great, I ruined what we have. Forever.) – she was still lying down on the sea of pillows below them – and was mentally smacking himself in the face with a thousand pillows for making such an impulsive, foolish mistake.

"We… We should clean up," she said softly, avoiding his eyes.

"Y-Yeah," Tai stuttered, trying too hard to maintain his composure. Maybe we'll just pretend like nothing happened. Yeah, that sounds good.

In silence, the two began to gather up the pillows from the ground. Minutes were passing by like hours to Tai, who immediately regretted his actions – but only to a slight selfish degree was he glad he did it because he was able to embrace her - and experience a touch of those unforgettable lips of hers.

"Tai…" she whispered suddenly. He looked up at her, waiting for her to yell at him, or storm out, or throw the pillows in her arms at him – something, anything – so he wouldn't feel so guilty. He swallowed, taking in what he assumed would be his last few breaths of life before getting a beating from his best friend. "Yeah, Sora?"

"I think that was it."

He was puzzled, trying to figure out if he was supposed to be as confused as he was. "That was what?" he asked, remembering that, at this point, it didn't matter if he sounded stupid.

"That was the one. The kiss."

And she dropped the pillows to the floor and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, causing him to send his collection of pillows flying to the ground as well. She kissed him, and he closed his eyes and returned the kiss wholeheartedly.

Homework could wait another day.

Author's note: I wanted this to be a short story instead of a one-shot but I think it ended on a good note and I'm not sure what else I could do from here so it's going to be left as a one-shot for now! I wanted this to have little to no dialogue but it was too hard to make them not talk XD I also tried avoiding using the word "kiss" until the end - hope that didn't confuse anyone! Let me know what you think :) Reviews and constructive criticism are much appreciated, and a huge thank you to those who have been following my stories since I first began! I'll get around to writing a story instead of all of these one-shots someday, I promise! x.x hehehe